


Invisible Frost

by Aqua783



Category: Frozen (2013), Rise of the Guardians (2012)
Genre: AU, Complete, Courtship, Elsa Has Ice Powers, F/M, Frozen (2013) References, Frozen AU, Jack being Jack, Rise of the Guardians (2012) References, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-22
Updated: 2015-12-17
Packaged: 2018-01-20 08:33:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 21,437
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1503830
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aqua783/pseuds/Aqua783
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Is… is there someone there?" Else finally spoke out, her voice stuttering and hands trembling. More frost ventured toward her, but it was strange… it was almost as if someone was… walking toward her?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. When She Was Eight

It was cold. But of course, it was always cold. At least, in the princess' room.

Elsa: next in line, princess of Arendelle was eight-years-old. She sat alone in her desolate bedroom separated from any sort of living thing. With the ever-so slowly freezing icicles forming outside her window frame as her only friends, she was starting to sink deeper and deeper into a pit of depression –and she had convinced herself that this was for the best. The best for the people she loved. Her parents, who may or not have been the ones responsible for her isolation, and her one and only sister, the cause of this whole thing –more or less. Elsa admits less because she knows in her heart it was in fact her fault. It was all her fault.

As this thought dawned on her for the millionth time, frost snuck beneath her fingertips onto the window-sill, causing a shudder to ripple down her spine. She gasped, and quickly pulled her hands away. She jumped off from the velvet cushion she had rested on and scurried over to her door. She sat against it and squeezed her knees to her chest, closing her eyes and telling herself over:

"Conceal it, don't feel it… conceal it, don't feel it…" she slowly rocked back and forth when suddenly, she heard a knock on the door.

The familiar rhythm "shave and a haircut" vibrated into her back bringing her back to her room which was beginning to crawl with frost. She turned around onto her knees and raised her shaking hand to the door to reply "two bits", but then, she heard her sister say the same phrase that lead to her sister losing her memories, and stopped.

"Do you wanna build a snowman?-"

Elsa closed her eyes and lowered her hand to her lap trying to keep herself from saying something she would regret.

"Or ride our bikes around the halls?"

Not only her eyes, but she also closed her heart, and didn't dare to listen anymore. She knew her sister missed her and Elsa wanted to play with her too yet, she couldn't let the same mistake happen again. What if… she struck her heart this time? What would she do?

Elsa wrung her hands in her lap and stared at them as if they held some sort of disease –no, that was wrong. It was a curse.

She stood up, still holding her hands and shuffled to the window once again. She stared out across Arendelle's dock and observed the boats that sashayed their sails, and wooden bodies that slid so graciously across the waters. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw frost rapidly sweep across the outside of the window-sill –the type of frost that covered your windshield on cold winter mornings. It appeared to form out of nowhere. In what felt like seconds, the whole window was made into a sheer curtain of ice.

 _Did I do that?_  Elsa wondered in fear.

She looked at her fingers and stared at them with unease, but soon her eyes traced back to the window when she noticed something being drawn on the window. A staff was being carved into the ice. It looked mangled and had the shape of a 'G' as the crook. She gazed at it with wonder, and unconsciously grazed it with her fingers, sending an icicle from her fingertips and piercing the glass, shattering it on impact. The little girl screamed and jumped back, but not quick enough to avoid being cut with several shards of glass. Glass lodged itself between her flesh in her left hand and many other places and she screamed again, this time for her parents, and suddenly tears were flooding down her face.

She heard what seemed like thunderous feet slamming into the stairs as her parents ran up to her room and then…  _blackness_.

They crashed through her door, and to their horror their daughter was lying on the ground, unconscious with countless pieces of glass framing her. The bulbs in the light on the ceiling burst when the young princess fainted, and the freezing air that chilled the room seemed to protect anything from catching fire.

The king and queen rushed to their daughter and the king picked her up in her arms, quickly checking for injuries. The only things found were glimmering snowflakes where the king and queen concluded she got wounded, but thankfully to her powers, she was unharmed. Soon enough, the snowflakes vanished and the king and queen were filled with relief.

_I'm sorry…_

A faint voice could be heard by the young girl in what she claimed her dreams.

After this incident, the king gave her a pair of silk gloves to wear, and told her as he held her hands to "Conceal it, don't feel it."

She already knew this without him telling her, but still, she finished with a dry smile, "Don't let it show."

* * *

**A/N: If you already know the story I'm just recapping what happens next. The next break-line will be the continuation of the story**

_Several years later, the king and queen pass away from a dangerous storm out on sea as they traveled to a partnering kingdom leaving Elsa to become Queen of Arendelle and take over for her parents. Many things happened after a short period of time: Elsa and Anna finally meet after years of separation, Anna exclaims she is getting married to which Elsa disagrees to and ends up casting a never-ending winter across Arendelle, Anna falls in love, Elsa becomes free until Anna tells her the danger of what she has done, Elsa pierces Anna's heart with powers sending her to death if she does not find an act of true love, Anna freezes to death, but because she saves her sister out of love she unfreezes and peace is then returned to Arendelle._

* * *

Elsa worked on papers while humming a familiar tune to herself in her study.

"Do you wanna build a snoowmaaaan?" Anna poked her head into the room.

Elsa rolled her eyes with a sigh. "Anna-"

The older sister looked up from her papers just as the flamboyant princess made large struts over to her dramatically and placed her balled up fists on her hips. "If you wanted to build a snowman you could've asked, ya know." She leaned over from her waist and looked Elsa in the eye, raising an intent eyebrow.

Elsa laughed behind her hand and gazed at her sister with warm eyes. "I was only humming to myself," she said.

"Oh?"

Anna slumped over in what looked like disappointment in response. Elsa only droned a "mhm" and returned to her papers, shuffling them on the desk and then placing them in a small pile in the corner. She grabbed an envelope from her left and began to open it.

"Then how 'bout-" Anna started, but the queen cut her off with a sharp look, set the envelope on the desk, and tapped her finger on the document. Anna groaned in frustration and Elsa couldn't help but laugh at her adorable sister. "Do you always have to be the queen? Can't you take a little break?" Anna pleaded.

"You know I can't, Anna. Maybe we could-" Elsa began, and Anna didn't have to hear anymore because she knew what she was going to say next.

With an excited yelp she thrust a fist in the air. "Yippee! Snowball fight, the usual room, ten o'clock sharp, you know it." Anna gave her sister a wink and soon dashed out of the room.

Elsa laughed with a small shake of her head and smiled.

* * *

It was exactly ten o'clock, the palace quiet with no sound… except for Anna clumsily crashing into a suit of armor. Anna got up quickly and shushed the broken soldier as if it was its fault, and carefully stepped over the pieces, creeping over to the room where Elsa patiently waited for her sister. Once she entered the room, Elsa's eyes suddenly gleamed with excitement and she could tell already by the giant smile on Anna's face that she was excited too.

Anna ran up to her sister and grabbing her hands, she looked into her eyes anxiously, "Do the magic! Do the magic!" She said almost laughing and let go so Elsa could perform her powers which put Anna in awe each time.

Elsa smiled and twisted her hand, gathering her fingers together before shooting a volley of ice from her fingertips into the center of the room which sent a descend of free-falling snow over them. Anna's eyes sparkled as she watched the snow gracefully float down to the ground and danced side to side with her arms outstretched feeling her sister's powers against her skin.

While trying to catch a few of the delicate masterpieces on her tongue, she didn't notice the snow gaining with depth at her feet. Elsa shook her head with a small laugh and with twirl of her hand she cast a pair of boots onto Anna's feet.

"You forgot your boots again." Elsa said, to which Anna replied with a shrug as she turned to her sister who had taken out her hair that was in a stylish bun moments before.

She was now wearing her teal dress which Elsa adored so much since she designed it in her ice kingdom on the North Mountain.

Anna's mouth gaped for a moment.  _Even after seeing it so many times, I can't get over how gorgeous my sister is in that dress!_

Elsa smiled to herself as she fancied her shoes not noticing her sister creeping up behind her with a snowball in hand. Anna counted to three before throwing the snowball, earning a surprised-and-face-full-of-snow-Elsa who turned sharply to glare at her sister. Elsa gave Anna a quick smirk before advancing quickly with no mercy in mind and a conjured snowball in hand.

They played for hours, not caring what the morning had to bring and living in the moment. Though, they were tired, they still played. It'd been a couple weeks since they had this fun and luckily this time, they didn't end up with a water-stained painting like when they had played in the gallery which Anna suggested and Elsa agreeing to thoughtlessly. She earned a head full from Kai the next morning, so thankfully, this time they didn't have to worry about that and could go full out.

After another hour, they really were worn-out and called it a night.

"Anna, you go up before me, I'll clean up." Elsa said, and Anna nodded, leaving her alone in the empty room.

Elsa sighed. She never really liked getting rid of her creations. She liked creating things, and thought this as she regarded a hand-made Olaf, a small snow-castle, and a snow fort she had made to play with Anna during a snowball fight. If she could just leave these here without them melting she could have them forever –she liked the thought of trying out eternal snow. She had figured out something with Olaf, and Marshmallow was up on North Mountain so he had no problem. This reminded her…

"I wonder how Marshmallow's doing," Elsa wondered aloud.

She was worried that maybe something had happened while she'd been away. Suddenly shaking her head, she told herself that Marshmallow was fine as long as he was on North Mountain so she needn't worry. She needed to focus on the task at hand which was getting this place cleaned up before the servants saw anything. She could already see the Sun daring to peak through the frost covered windows in the room and started to hurry along. She swept her hand out in front of her making the snow fly up to the ceiling and disappearing into the vapour of the air.

It took her less than a minute to get it finished, and once she was done, she smiled at the sparkling floors and breathed out a content sigh. She was about to leave the room when she sensed someone watching her and slowed her pace. She held her hands together and continued for the door, aware of the fear gnawing at the pit of her stomach.

She heard whistling of cold air breathe against the windows of the room and turned to see frost formed on the glass. Elsa had no idea what was going on. Her eyes searched for any other signs of herself in the corners and the pillars of the roof, but there was no indication and so her eyes dropped back down to her hands.

 _This isn't me. This can't be me… right?_  Her knees felt weak, so she placed a hand on the door to steady herself. Without intention, a splatter of frost formed from her hand and traveled up the wood to the doorframe, sealing the door shut. As she realized what she had done, more frost edged the darkest of corners and coated the floor.

"Is… is there someone there?" Her voice choked out from her mouth in a stutter.

More frost ventured toward her, but it was strange. It was almost as if someone was… walking toward her?


	2. Winter... in July?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Elsa senses an invisible stranger who leaves a signature on his way out. And a man complains about the snow.

Elsa watched as the footprints of ice began to slowly come closer, and closer.

"Who are  _you_?" she asked firmly and stared fixedly where the person would be if she could see them.

Only the wind whispered back while she suddenly felt a wave of cold wash over her. She blinked and her eyes wavered as she lowered her gaze and stared at her hands.

 _I've never felt cold by my own powers_ , she thought, and then raised her eyes again and a quiet gasp escaped her lips. The thought came to her that it wasn't she who caused the windows to frost over, or the room to creep with ice; it was this person who was here with her.

The mysterious stranger came closer to her and stopped. Even though they were invisible, she somehow sensed a person standing only centimeters from her face. She uncomfortably turned her head away and tried pressing against the door trying to be as unnoticeable as possible. She flattened herself alongside the door and wished she could just slip right through it.

She breathed out a shaky breath which she realized she'd been holding, afraid she would disturb the thing in front of her with the cloud of vapor that was inevitably formed. She was scared. What did this thing want? Was it going to harm her? She could only hope that whatever it was, it had no intention of hurting her, or anyone in the castle for that matter. Her thoughts drifted to questioning Anna's safety when simultaneously, a voice echoed through her head.

_Can you see me?_

Elsa started and was about to look back at the trespasser when suddenly, the door she was leaning against swung open and she tumbled backwards, landing with a thud on the ground.

"Ouch…"

"Elsa!"

The queen rubbed her lower back, and looked up to see an Anna who was leaning over her knees with a look of worry on her face.

"I'm really sorry," she said, and offered a hand to help her sister up.

Elsa took her hand and was brought upright while Anna gave her a smile.

"It's okay..." Elsa said slowly, eying her with a quizzical look.

"What's wrong with the door?" Anna asked looking around Elsa's shoulder.

Elsa's eyes danced to where she knew the person was still standing, to the door covered with a thin layer of frost. "It was me," she said hastily. Smoothly and hurriedly, she twirled her hand making the icy rime disappear.

The reason why there was ice there in the first place was because she was scared and had no control over her powers, so it wasn't a lie. She was also terrified of what she had just experienced and still felt uneasy. Nonetheless, Elsa returned her gaze to her sister and asked, "Why did you come back down?"

Anna held her hands behind her back while twisting her foot on the ground looking embarrassed.

"I felt guilty about leaving you down here all by yourself," Anna said to which caused Elsa to form a small smile.

"Anna, I told you I'd take care of it."

"Yeah, but-"

Elsa gave her a look and the younger one shut her mouth after that. If Anna knew two things about her sister when she gave a look like that, those would be: don't argue, and I love you, so it's okay.

Anna breathed out a sigh which felt like she was blowing out all her guilt, and took Elsa by the hand. "Do you wanna get some chocolate?" She sang and Elsa couldn't help but laugh at her sister who could change from such a serious discussion to chocolate in a flash.

"Of course," Elsa said, and squeezed her hand while almost giving her an Eskimo kiss with an immense smile on her face.

She didn't ignore what happened minutes ago, and as they walked down the hall, she glanced back warily and sensed the person finally exiting in what Elsa's felt was a rush, but not before leaving a scratched-in staff on the frost-covered door as if a memoir of its visit.

Anna looked at her sister curiously and followed her gaze to the room where she didn't see anything (as the drawing quickly vanished once the suspect left the room).

"Elsa?"

Elsa turned her head to her sister, "Hm?"

Anna stared at her sister for a moment. She noticed before when she asked what was wrong with the door that she looked two places before she made the ice disappear and she wanted to know why.  _Was something wrong?_

Anna shook her head. "No, it's nothing," she said, deciding to leave it for now, and they continued to walk to their hidden stash of chocolate.

* * *

In the morning, Elsa woke up early to take refuge in her study. She walked along her bookshelves and trailed her fingers along the spines of the old-woven books. She sighed as her fingers touched the mythology filled book with her curse in its bindings and after a moment of staring at it with melancholy, she left her books and sat down at her desk.

Next, she tended to some necessities like checking the taxes and signing some trading papers. She worked for hours and finally, she breathed out a sigh and stretched her arms high above her head. Just as she did so, the door opened to her study with a gust of cold wind. The queen stared at the door with astonishment and slowly lowered her arms and rose from her seat.

She advanced to the door and checked to see if anyone was there before carefully closing it. She was about to leave when she noticed frost covering the panels of the door and a small staff carved into the film.

A chill went up her spine, and she let out a breath of bewilderment. "Just what is this?" She asked out loud. She shook her head with a small laugh, "If someone is following me, I'd like you show yourself!" Her eyes flared with a temper, but nothing happened. She almost felt disappointed. 

_No, why would I be disappointed? I'm_ _**relieved** _ _no one's there… right?_

Elsa wasn't so sure anymore –maybe she was disappointed because she knew that this thing wanted her attention and she couldn't seem to grasp what she was missing. Although, maybe she just hoped that whatever was trailing her would stop sooner than later before something else happened… like her powers swinging out of control and almost killing someone again.

Of course Else was curious as to why these things kept happening to her, but what could she do if the force didn't want to be seen or found? All she could do was try to get her mind off it, and that was easy with the amounts of work she had.

It was breakfast time and the two sisters sat together in the dining room.

"Can't we get a smaller table?" Anna asked as her sister picked up a piece of egg with her fork and started to nibble on it.

Elsa put down her fork and looked at Anna from across the table. The table was lined with every sort of breakfast item you could think of including bacon, eggs, pancakes, waffles, strawberry sauce, and whipped cream (traditional American was the theme or so they were told). Though, that wasn't even half of what was on the table. The joke-of-a-table was two-thirds (length-wise) the size of the entire room, and the room was almost the size of the gallery which was pretty large compared to their rooms.

Anna and Elsa sat on either ends.

Elsa finished chewing her food and swallowed before replying, "This was the table our parents ate at and they wanted us to keep it in the will, remember?"

"I just don't understand whyyy," Anna whined and Elsa laughed behind her hand like she always did.

"I don't either, but let's just keep it, okay? Then we don't have to worry about getting a larger table if you and Kristoff decide to… I mean, if you want to…" Elsa couldn't finish her sentence as a bright pink flushed across her cheeks, and even from where Anna sat she could see that her sister's face was bright pink.

As she tried to unsuccessfully cover it, Anna smirked, "Decide to what? Hm, hm?" Anna teased her dear sister, and laughed until Elsa's entire face was red.

"D-Decide to have children!" Elsa said, flustered.

Anna stopped laughing and looked at her sister 'seriously', "We're not in any rush, ya know."

Elsa rested her elbow on the table shaking her head in her hand. "I know that! I mean-" she sighed,"I know that. You just –you could've told me that earlier before-" she couldn't finish what she was saying, being the flustered mess she was and her expression only showed just how much she couldn't believe how her sister made her say that.  _What a total stinker!_ She thought sourly.

Anna, without realizing her sister's bitterness continued as if nothing happened, "Well, what about you, huh," Anna asked, and something pricked in Elsa's chest.

Elsa looked down at her plate, deciding she had lost her appetite suddenly. "No one would want to have child with someone like me," she said quietly, but Anna could still hear her and couldn't believe it.

"Well, you know, if we weren't related and all and I was maybe a guy; I'd love to have children with you! I mean, we could have small, frosty kids of our own. Oh man, that sounds weird, but I just really love you, so I say that," the younger sister rambled, getting a little embarrassed by her own words. She gave a small, awkward smile to Elsa who may have been too distracted by her hands to notice the reassurance that was hidden in her smile.

"I know what you mean, Anna, and I appreciate it, although, I'm pretty sure no one would love someone like me with these powers that could freeze them if I lost-"

"Love will thaw a frozen heart, Elsa." Anna said, and added, "Oh! And I know plenty of people who like you." She gained some of her energy back as she realized she could back up her offer.

Elsa picked up her fork again and swung it around unenthusiastically "Oh yeah, who?" She said and looked at the fork with much more interest than hearing her sister's answer because she already knew it.

"All of-"

"'All of Arendelle.' Anna, is that what you were going to say?" she asked, and her sister gave her a small pout. Anna crossed her arms over her chest. "One celebration doesn't clear up everyone's thoughts about me from before I found out how to control my powers." Elsa said sadly, and paused before adding, "Fear doesn't just disappear, Anna."

There was a huge amount of pain in Elsa's eyes and Anna saw it. She knew how Elsa thought of herself, and in her defense, it was all for the protection of her people. It wasn't her fault she was cursed with her powers, and it wasn't her fault if her emotions got the best of her. Everyone needed to forgive and forget. Everyone needed to remember that they are all humans with their own faults and miseries.

Her mouth opened with hope to say something to cheer her sister up, but then it closed again, hesitating while the words tried to form sentences in her head and by the time she had sorted them out, it seemed there was no one to hear what dreamful wisdom she had to share. Anna's eyes fell to her lap and she slumped back down against the back of the chair. After a while, she picked herself up and started to eat again.

Elsa had returned to the study to do paperwork, leaving Anna alone in the dining hall. She regretted leaving Anna alone to eat by herself –just as Anna did when she left the night before, but it was unfair she thought that she had to repeat to Anna the painful Truth.

What Anna said yesterday was exactly what she thought.

 _Can't I just stop being queen for one day? All I ask for is one day._  Unfortunately, she knew her wish couldn't come true and she continued to work and work and work.

It was past dinnertime and after an awkward lunch and dinner with Anna, Elsa couldn't help the eyelids that began to grow heavier and heavier by the second, and as she worked on even more papers she suddenly let sleep take control and fell over exhausted on her desk with her arms hanging off the edge in front of her.

* * *

**"Hey, what do you think you're doing?!"**

**"What do you mean, 'what do you think I'm doing'? I'm waking up the queen, so she can stop this madness. We already put up with it once; we don't need her screwing us over _again!_ "**

_Is that… Kai's voice? Who is the other one?_ Elsa mumbled and was suddenly brought back to the living when someone shook her violently to wake her.

"Queen Elsa!" Elsa heard Kai's voice and her eyes flipped open to a man who was standing in front of her desk.

The man looked to be in his late twenties and he had a red shirt on visible from underneath his olive-green jacket which was hardly an excuse for a jacket, seeing that it was barely keeping this man from all the snow that had glued itself onto the clothing. The man had a medium-length beard filled with frost and a little, brown, tightly-snug hat on his head. He was very large and muscular -someone Elsa did not want to get on the wrong side of, but it seemed she might be a little too late.

Then, something struck her:  _Wait._ _ **Snow?**_

"What is going on?" Elsa asked worriedly, and saw the man give a huff as if he couldn't believe what he was hearing.

"Just look what you did to Arendelle!" He said, and gestured to the glass door of her balcony.

Elsa got up, spinning around to see what she had dreaded seeing the second she saw the man. Outside, the balcony was filled halfway up with snow. It piled up against the door, keeping it shut and providing condensation on its surface. Off in the distance, she could see snow heaped in mounds on the docks and ice seizing the boats that once sailed there gracefully.

_Did I do it again? Did I cause another eternal winter for Arendelle?_


	3. Do You Remember?!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Elsa is Queen and deals with the man. And the sisters have some bonding time before remembering something important.

"Sir, please, I'm sure the queen has nothing to do with-" Kai started, and the man cut him off.

"No, she has to have something to do with this! It's the middle of July, and  _she_  is the only explanation!"

Her eyes must be playing tricks on her, she didn't do this. She had her powers under control. Didn't she? She checked her hands and saw that she had her gloves on and then looked up at the man.

"I-I know what you're thinking, but this wasn't me." She said desperately and the man could see truth in her eyes, but he still wasn't convinced.

"I'm sorry, but after freezing Arendelle once, I can't trust your words completely," The man gave her a look. " _Snow Queen,_ " he snarled.

Elsa was at lost for words. She  _knew_  she didn't do this, but she couldn't explain what else could've happened. She tried thinking of various things, although just waking up didn't help the situation any. For now, she just needed to calm this man down. "I'm very sorry. I will try to fix this as soon as I can," she said.

"That's not fast enough!" The man bellowed to which Elsa winced. "I have a very important export to make and because of this damn snow, I can't even get my cart from where it's stuck, my horse refuses to leave the stable, and tell me, just am I supposed to give my family to eat if I don't have any money!" The man yelled until his face turned a dark shade of red.

Elsa gave an apologetic look and said to the man calmly, "I will figure out how to stop this, but until then, I will get Kai to give you some money and food from our supplies, and I will put your goods in the royal trading stock to be shipped out once I have this cleared up. You will earn double the amount and I promise you that your family is in good hands."

The man huffed and put his hands on his hips. Suddenly, everyone in the room heard the thudding of feet against the hardwood floor coming closer and closer towards the room. A few seconds later, an out-of-breath Anna appeared in the doorway, leaning over to catch her breath with a hand on the doorframe.

"Elsa… the palace… is frozen closed," she said breathlessly and Elsa widened her eyes.

"What did you just say?" The man thundered at Anna, and Elsa narrowed her eyes.

She coughed to get his attention, "You may yell at me however much you want, but you do  _not_  talk to Anna that way," Elsa growled.

The man turned back to see Elsa glaring at him to which now Kai coughed awkwardly and Elsa looked at him. He mouthed the word 'don't' to the Queen and she widened her eyes realizing that this would only make things worse and regained her composure quickly.

"Ehem… sorry, I just thought-" Elsa began.

"Elsa, no one can get in or out of the palace –wait, who is this guy?" Anna asked, suddenly realizing she had never seen this man before.

The man opened his mouth to say something, and now it was the Queen's turn to cut him off.

"Well, actually I'm not sure of his name…" her eyes darted to his figure and continued, "but his cart is stuck and his horse won't come out its stable, and so he can't make an export on time because of me."

Elsa noticed a sort of panic arise in her sister's eyes and they started to skitter here and there all around the room. Anna's volume dropped considerably low "E-Elsa, is it because of what happened this-" Elsa stopped her and nodded off towards Kai who nodded, and began to hurriedly usher the man out of the room, closing the door behind him. Anna returned to her comment before, "Is it because of what happened this morning," she said, still, voice softened.

Elsa shook her head. "It's not  _me_ ," she said and looked at her hands. "I don't know  _who_  it is."

"Elsa…" Anna stepped over to her sister and saw the fear in her eyes and quite suddenly, Elsa had started shaking. Anna wrapped her arms around her sister in a hug and patted her hair softly. "Elsa… Elsa, listen," she said to her sister who pulled back and stared deep into Anna's eyes searching for hope and answers to which Anna had only one of those things and that was… hope.

"Everything is going to be alright, we fixed this once, and we can do it again," Anna said sensitively.

Elsa gripped her sister's arms. "But  _how_  Anna, how are we supposed to fix this when we don't even know how this started?" Her fingers trembled as she held Anna's arms.

She didn't know how they were going to fix this at all, yet she knew she could trust her sister, so when Anna showed her a smile of reassurance she believed it, and when she said, 'I know we can do it' she believed that too.

* * *

The two sisters woke up to find more snow than they had seen ever in their life (The North Mountain was a small comparison to this blizzard). The fjord was frozen solid once again, stalls in the market place were all closed, stores were on lock-down, and the fountains were frozen as if they were stunning ice sculptures.

Since the return of the queen, Elsa had promised Anna that they could share a room together, and so as the sun slowly continued to rise along the horizon they both sat on Elsa's bed thinking of various things concerning the snow.

"Well, why can't you just make it disappear like all the other snow you make?" Anna asked.

"Because it isn't my snow, Anna," Elsa said, and Anna thought that was reasonable, but it sure made this a lot harder than she thought.

"Why do you think this happened?"

"I'm not sure."

"How does it even snow in the middle of July, like, what?"

"Anna… I told you your habit of saying 'like' is becoming a bit too much." Elsa said, and giggled behind her hand.

"But it's a haaaabit. That's why it's called a habit!" Anna countered and Elsa gave her a smirk.

"Like, like, like, like, like, like… how does it even snow in the middle of July, like… what." Elsa imitated, nodding her head side to side and shoving her face closer and closer to Anna's.

Her little sister gave a small pout and crossed her arms to which Elsa laughed at. Anna eyed her sister and put on a little show of irritation but soon enough, she ended up laughing and tackling her sister. They both wrestled for dominance for about a minute, and eventually, Anna ended on top of Elsa.

Both breathless and tired, Anna somehow managed to point at Elsa's face and say wittedly, "Ha! Who's queen now?!"

She smirked at Elsa's stunned expression and giggled as Elsa narrowed her eyes and gave a small smile as if saying 'alright you win this one, but just you wait'. Elsa threw her sister off of her body and they both sat up in her bed again.

After a moment of silence Anna asked, "Why hasn't Kai come up to get you?"

"Kai knows I've already got ahead of my papers and he probably wants us to spend some sister time together." She smiled and Anna returned the gesture.

Another moment of silence resumed and Anna gazed out the window lost in thought. Even though the snow was so beautiful, it was dangerous too –just like how it was right now. Elsa ran her hand behind her sister's ear, moving a piece of hair that had become unraveled from her braid during their wrestle. Annd sighed and Elsa nudged her with her elbow.

"What's wrong?" Elsa asked.

"It's nothing." Anna blushed, realizing that was a lame excuse and receiving a 'oh come on, I know it's not nothing' look from Elsa.

"It's just…" she started and Elsa finished it for her.

"Kristoff?"

She nodded quietly and again, that blush came again to claim her cheekbones and settled there while she began to explain, "You know how… he kissed me. Well, I was thinking… what if he's had experience? Who is his first love? Am I his first love? I mean like, –Elsa shot her a glare and she covered her mouth- I mean, uh, we're old, I mean, not  _old_ , but isn't it possible that I'm-what, his third girlfriend or something?"

"It's quite possible," Elsa said and gave her sister a teasing grin.

"You know what, you're not helping." Anna said and began to collect her socks that had fallen off while they were wrestling. She stood up from the bed.

"No, Anna, I didn't mean that! Kristoff definitely hasn't had anyone but you. He… was probably practicing on Sven before you came along." She giggled and Anna glared at her.

"Hmpff!" Anna stuck up her nose and turned around, insulted that her sister thought of Kristoff of having some weird reindeer fetish. She marched over to her dresser to gather some clothes to wear for the day.

"Before he met you, he was with the trolls – _remember_?" Elsa reminded her and Anna span around, her eyes suddenly filled with optimism.

"So he hasn't!"

There was no way Elsa knew for sure, unless they asked the man, but Elsa shook her head anyways, and Anna squealed. The platinum-haired girl winced and reopened her eyes to see a dancing Anna spinning around the room. She had a dress in her hands and span around holding the sleeves as if it was a person and Elsa laughed. But then suddenly, recalling the invisible person she met, she shivered.

Anna noticed her sister acting strange and ran up to her bed, bouncing onto the mattress with her knees right in front of Elsa. Her smile faltered when she saw Elsa's eyes searching for something, and Anna knew she didn't know what she was looking for so she asked her.

"What's wrong?"  _This felt familiar,_  she recalled earlier, and giggled.

"I… don't know." Elsa said and tried remembering anything constant that would help her find some answers. And then she got it.

_The staff!_

"Anna, do you know anything about a staff being carved into frost on windows… or doors?" Anna could tell that this meant a lot to her sister and racked her brain for anything that resembled what she had just described.

After a while of thinking, she finally came up with something, "Do you mean Jack Frost? Elsa, do you remember Jack Frost?!" She said excitedly and grabbed Elsa's hands. Anna remembered their parents having told them about the magical adventures of the mischievous character that made Jack Frost who he was. Though, after all of what they had been through, it was unquestionably reasonable that they could have forgotten half of what they could've –had that experience never happened to both of them.

"I've always dreamed about meeting him one day…" she said dreamily and got lost in her thoughts until she realized Elsa was staring at her, a little confused. "Elsa, you remember Jack Frost, don't you? Bringer of joy to kids, conjurer of ice, snow and…" Anna stopped as she began to piece things together. "Do you think-"

Elsa knew where she was going with this, "He's the cause of this winter?"  _That's a possible explanation. If I could be born with ice-powers, why shouldn't Jack Frost be real?_  She thought, and then confirmed what they were both thinking, "I do."

After having getting dressed and a short breakfast they headed towards Elsa's study and searched through the books that their parents used to read to them. They found what they were looking for and Elsa sat down at her desk, waiting for Anna to grab a chair. As soon as they were ready, Elsa took a deep breath and flipped open the cover.

After all these years, the book had gathered a considerably large amount of dust and as she was flipping the pages Anna couldn't help but cough and sneeze. The book was filled with a lot of pictures and many colorful words –no wonder they both liked the book so much when they were younger. Elsa liked all the words and she would recite them to her parents as if in preparation for her becoming a queen and Anna loved to stare wondrously at the drawings and sometimes even took a pen and added her own little additions.

Elsa passed a page where there was one of Santa Claus' reindeer pulling a sleigh high up into the air and Anna thought it was such a good idea, that she wrote Kai's name above one of the reindeer's heads and scribbled down the whole royal family into one long sentence above Santa's head. When their parents had found out what Anna did, they asked her why she did that and she just said that she thought that Kai was like their little helper, and we were the big family who loved him and took him on adventures.

It was little joke that ran in the family, but they had both forgotten it when their parents passed away. Elsa was still flipping through pages when she finally found the one she was looking for. They both leant in closer to the book and peered at the larger words faded at the top of the page.

" **Jack Frost"**


	4. Because He's Like Me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Anna gets a surprise from a flying snowball. And Jack Frost wants to make a deal.

The two girls suddenly felt cold wind murmur against their backs, sending tremors down both their spines. Elsa's eyes darted up from the book to the door which had the carving of the staff a day ago. By now, the thing had disappeared, however she couldn't stop feeling like someone was watching her from where the carving had been. Anna looked at her sister with interest. She knew something was irking her; she didn't know what, and it bothered her.

"Elsa?" The platinum-haired girl's eyes fell from the door and snapped back into focus on her sister. She could see the look of worry in her sister's eyes, and something tore at her. "Elsa, what's wrong? Why do you keep acting so  _weird_?" Her voice hit a higher pitch than normal as her uneasiness surfaced.

"Anna, I know this is going to sound strange, but I-"

"I have a sister who has magical powers; nothing can get stranger than that." Anna gave her a small smile.

Elsa was surprised of her sister's comment and knew that if someone was going to believe her, it was Anna.

"Twice, I've seen this staff, and I-I think Jack Frost is real," she looked at her hands though, she didn't quite know why. "He's trying to send us a message. Just look at the blizzard outside!" She gestured to her balcony, and as if agreeing with her, the doors banged against their hinges as wind pummeled the panels of solid glass.

Anna pursed her lips. "I was only kidding about wanting to meet him, you know. He can't reeally be real –right?" Anna gave her a look like she did say something weird. "Are you sure you're not just stressed out because of your work? You did say you were doing a lot of work lately…" she trailed off, looking for some kind of indication if what she said was right.

"Anna?" Elsa said, and her shoulders fell with astonishment. She couldn't believe her sister actually said that. And after they had just started to get along! Did Anna really think that she was trying to make something up just so she didn't have to take blame for this? "Anna, I swear it wasn't me!" She said, a little desperately.

"We both know Santa Claus, the Tooth Fairy, the Easter bunny, and the Boogeyman don't exist, so why should Jack Frost?" Anna said, emphasizing the names of each character.

She couldn't hold it back anymore, "Because he's like me!" she proclaimed, and suddenly it came to her, why she felt so angry that Anna wasn't listening to her.

She realized why she felt disappointed the time she found out no one was there in her study, and why she looked at her hands when she confessed she thought Jack Frost was real. It was because they were alike, and she wanted so much for someone to be like her; someone to tell her that she wasn't cursed, but like them, and that it was a good thing.

All her life, she only knew that her powers were a burden. She only started to see the brighter side of them a few weeks ago. Yet, she knew she still had an uneasiness hidden inside her heart that she would do something horrible again, and now she realized someone was like her, and maybe they would help her. Maybe, just maybe, she could finally make a friend she could relate to that wasn't family.

Anna looked taken aback. She should have guessed that that was the reason why her sister was so riled up. Only now did she realize her words might have been a tad harsh. "Elsa, I'm so sor-"

And that's when a snowball flew out of nowhere and hit her right in the side of the head.

"Ow!" Anna yelped, her hand shooting straight to her ear reflexively.

"Anna!" Elsa gasped, and started wiping the little bit of snow off her sister frantically while checking to see if she was injured more than what a snowball could cause.

The snow felt weird against her fingers; it felt as though the snow was filled with magic, and she knew it was magic because she's held it within her hands many times before. She started to feel uneasy about this. However, she was interrupted from her thoughts quickly.

"Yeah, just peachy," her little sister said sarcastically while scraping snow out of her ear with her finger.

"Where did that come from?" Elsa asked, getting up from her seat and looking around the room.

Her mouth dropped in surprise as she caught the sight of a teenage boy standing in front of the doors leading to her balcony. His hair was like hers, but hers a tad blonder; his pure white. It was cut short, the fringe hanging thickly in the middle of his forehead leaving space on the sides for his gorgeous, sea-blue eyes. They were a shade darker than hers, and in the dim light of her study, she was astonished that she could still see the precious orbs. His skin was pale and contrasted against the murky-blue hoodie he wore. As his for his bottoms; they were suede pants which were rather tattered at the ends and loose strings hung down his a length of shins. His feet were bare and his hands held a staff which resembled a Shepard's crook.

He leaned on the staff with both his hands supporting his head and gave Elsa a small, mischievous smile, "Can you see me now?"

Elsa almost screamed if not for Anna suddenly interrupting the spontaneous encounter, getting up as well and touching the older girl's shoulder.

"Is something there?" Anna asked warily.

Elsa eyes lingered on the boy for a few hesitant seconds before she turned to look at her sister. "You don't see the boy there?" She asked anxiously, and gestured towards the direction of the stranger. If Anna couldn't see the boy, she didn't know what she'd do. She would think she was probably crazy if that was the case, but she needed to know if by any chance, Anna could see him too.

Anna dropped her hand and looked to where her sister pointed and saw… nothing.

Anna shook her head slightly, "No…"

Elsa's heart felt like it just fell through the floor.

"You don't… see him?" She asked again, and her eyes flickered to the boy to see if he was still there and seeing that he was, she grew more flustered. Looking back at her sister she exclaimed, "It's Jack Frost!" and threw her arm out towards him.

Her eyes caught movement of the boy picking his head off the staff and smiling a little warmer than before. "You know who I am?"

Anna widened her eyes realizing her sister was not making this up and could in fact see Jack Frost. And he was standing right there, in the room with them. The strawberry-blond almost had to hit herself for how she thought she made Elsa feel.

"Elsa, I'm sorry. I believe you, b-but I can't see anything there," Anna stammered.

Elsa's eyes traced back to Anna where she saw the hint of desperation in her eyes and felt herself give up on trying to make her see something that she definitely couldn't.

"Anna, I-I'm sor-" Elsa began, but her sister cut her off.

"No, it's okay. I shouldn't have said those things to you before," Anna sighed, and there was a moment of silence before Anna started again, "Can-" Anna started to say, and Elsa looked at her sister interested in what she had to say, "you really see Jack Frost?"

Elsa nodded her head, and suddenly, Anna grabbed her sister's hands and looked into her eyes excitedly, "Is he really handsome? Does he have white hair like the fairytales? Oooh! can you tell him to have a snowball fight with me?"

Anna squealed and clapped her hands together. Elsa could hear a spurt of laughter come from the door. She ignored it and responded to the bombardment of questions.

"Anna, please-"

She quickly dropped her hands and settled down a bit, "Oh yeah, no, sorry. I didn't mean to get carried away." Anna said, her cheeks flushed with embarrassment.

Elsa laughed, "It's alright," and then smiled.

Anna replied with a nervous grin and tucked a piece of her hair behind her ear. There was a small silence where the two girls exchanged smiles, leaving Anna a little antsy and wanting to say something to get rid of the awkwardness.

"Don't you think you should talk to him?" Anna asked.

"Oh, right!" Elsa looked over at the boy and smiled to him before giving her sister a look of 'can we talk alone?'

She nodded her head and scrambled out of the room, closing the door behind her and leaving the two alone. Elsa walked over to Jack Frost slowly as to not scare him; as if he was a timid rabbit or something. What surprised her though was that he started to walk towards her. She stopped walking, feeling a chill run down her spine. She decided to pay no mind to it.

"Hey," he said.

"Hi," she replied, almost like a question instead of her steady, cool tone.

There was a deafening silence that consumed them as Elsa tried to think of what to say. Even though it was obvious that she should be really trying to get out of him why he froze Arendelle, there was also something inside of her telling her that this may be the only chance to talk to someone who was like her. Ask him how he deals with it or if people shun him because of his powers.

"Aren't you gonna ask me about the blizzard?" He asked, suddenly bringing her out of her thoughts.

He looked at her with a small smirk on his face; she returned the favour.

"Aren't you gonna tell me about the blizzard?" She said, almost imitating his tone and smiled to herself.

"Hey, let's just be friendly, shall we?" He put his hands up in defense while his staff slipped to the crook of his elbow.

Elsa laughed and Jack, seeing her radiant smile, ogled at her for a length of time. Jack had to admit she was gorgeous and that was one of the reasons why he froze her dear kingdom. Another reason was because he knew she was like him, and the last reason was because he wanted to get to know the regal girl on a personal level. Jack could say that he knew her; he knew what her favourite food was, her best friend, eye color, and foot size though, he didn't know her like he wanted to.

Elsa walked back to her desk where two chairs still resided. She sat down, petting the cushion of the other chair to motion for him to sit down. The winter spirit obeyed and had a seat next to her on the chair. He leaned over on his knees with his elbows and gave her a sly smile. Everything was going according to plan… but then he saw the nervous tension in the Queen's eyes and eyed her as she looked down at her hands in her lap.

"You okay?"

Elsa jumped and looked at him, "Ah, yeah!" She said, "I'm fine." However, by the way she suddenly got quiet it was obvious she was not okay.

"You're not okay," he said and shifted in his seat to sit up more. "I-I'm sorry, Elsa."

"What could you be sorry for? The blizzard?" She asked.

"For... hurting you," he said quietly.

Elsa wasn't sure what he meant by that. She wasn't particularly hurt by the blizzard just frustrated and annoyed. She didn't need her citizens afraid of her, planted with the idea of her being a monster inside their heads. All she wanted was a peaceful life with her sister.

"Just... make the blizzard go away." Elsa said firmly and looked away from Jacks eyes which had been watching her carefully.

He had a feeling that Elsa didn't understand what he meant when he apologized, nonetheless, "Fine, fine... but you have to give me something in return." Jack said, a smile beginning to form his thin lips.

"What... do you want?"


	5. Don't Flatter Me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Jack Frost is anticipating something. And Elsa trusts her sister's advice.

Jack scratched the back of his head and laughed a little nervously, however, Elsa didn't notice as she was still averting her gaze.

"Oh, nothing…" he hummed, "just a kiss."

Suddenly, she brought her gaze back to him, jerking back slightly to survey the boy. She was trying to tell if he was joking or not. Clearly, he wasn't with that dumb smirk that tamed his lips.

"Absolutely not," she spat and turned her head away from him.

"Oh, come on," he groaned, "just a small one?"

She shot him a glare as if saying 'not a chance' and once he got the message, she stood up and began walking away. What Jack didn't realize was that Elsa was trying to hide the fact that she was blushing furiously, and with her pale skin she knew there wasn't a way she would be able to cover it up if she hadn't gotten out of his sight; she's never felt this most embarrassed in her life.

 _A kiss?_ She thought just as her fingertips lightly grazed the doorknob. Was she getting hit on?

She was disturbed out of her thoughts when a teasing voice called out, "Oh, but what are you going to do about your kingdom?" the voice jeered and Elsa stopped cold.

She spun around quickly and glared at him with a piercing gaze. "And how is this being 'friendly'?" she countered a voice as sheer as ice, though she didn't mean to sound so… unpleasant.

However Jack Frost wasn't the type to take that sort of thing to heart and just continued with this battle of words. "I am being friendly," he said, and added, "I'm just asking for something in return." Then he shrugged, "Come on, it can't be so bad. Unless -Jack's eyebrow went up as a thought struck him- this is your first ki-"

"Is there any other way to pay you back?" Elsa asked, trying to ignore the question she never let him finish.

She was more than pleased with herself when she realized she could say it so smoothly and not feel like she was trying to change the subject because she was  _embarrassed_. But now, what  _Elsa_  didn't know was that Jack could see straight through her little act and he knew –if there was any way to sway the 'stone' queen, this was it.

Jack had to think spontaneously, so he wouldn't just let this opportunity pass since she offered a second chance. He knew he was shooting a little aimlessly when he asked straight out for a kiss while playing the innocent kind, and he knew that the queen who had been isolated for  _thirteen_  years wouldn't just kiss him out of the blue. So his plan was a little faulty, but it couldn't hurt to try, right? If he really wanted her to kiss him, he needed to make her fall for him first.

He was done thinking, "Then how 'bout the cheek, hm? Just a small one, come on." He pointed to his cheek with a small childish grin.

It took a small moment for Elsa to finally cave in, "Okay, fine, but not until you thaw the kingdom; then you can get your… kiss."

Somehow, Jack knew she would give in when he played the childish side to him because her little sister was like that, and he knew how much she loved her sister; he knew Elsa would do anything for her sister. Even so, he couldn't help his eyes that immediately shot with life, and keep control of his lips to keep them smoothed into a straight line rather than the smile that curled his urging lips. Elsa didn't know why, but she couldn't help the smile that claimed her lips as well and started walking back towards him with a light step. Jack suddenly got tense not expecting her to come back at that exact moment.

"What are you-" he started, but the queen cut him off getting the vibe that he was expecting her to kiss him right now instead of keeping her promise and just waved it off casually by nodding her head to the balcony.

She raised an eyebrow. "So?" She asked.

Suddenly, he felt stupid, realizing he was totally giving off the vibe that he was being somewhat expectant of his 'payment'. He took a small moment to mentally punch himself in the face and after that phase of total humiliation he turned his attention to the snow that she had nodded off to. In one swift movement, he twirled his staff, crook pointing straight at the heap of snow. With a small glance in her direction and smirk on his face, he conjured the power of wind from his staff. The doors burst open, spraying the snow that once seized it, away and off the balcony entirely. Elsa's eyes widened at the sight of the display of power and she suddenly grew strangely ecstatic.

"That was wonderful!" She proclaimed and clapped her hands together while looking at Jack with admiring eyes.

"Almost so wonderful you want to kiss me?" He prompted and for a split second, her eyes showed a sway of 'possibly' but then she caught herself and then showed nothing of the sort.

"Don't flatter yourself," she said.

"Can't blame a guy for trying," Jack shrugged, which made Elsa laugh.

For a while now, Elsa had been surprising herself by laughing with the foolish guardian, but she didn't relatively feel like it was wrong thing to do. It was more like it was the  _right_  thing to do. The once legendary character she thought was fictional was now in her study and  _laughing with her_. She thought nothing could get better than this, but of course, it could, and she had all the willpower to let it.

The winter spirit suddenly got a brilliant idea and whizzed out of the room and onto the balcony which bared all of Arendelle at its curve. He signaled for the girl to follow him and Elsa, again surprised with herself; followed the crazy fool out onto the balcony as well. What she saw next was only a fragment of all the power Jack Frost really pertained to. For a second time, and as smooth as ever, he willed the power to move all the snow and ice from the streets and market stalls, making sure no one was in the way of harm and continued from the frozen fountains to the last bit of snow of the farthest boat they could see. He raised the ton of ice, frost and snow from the ground of the Earth to the hands of the sky, and while in the process creating a subtle reverse snowfall and conjuring a cloud-like form of the material high above the courtyard of the castle. For a moment, it just hung there like a fluffy, white bundle of cotton, and Jack took his time to peer over at Elsa who was captive of the astonishing moment and too engrossed with the performance to notice Jack's gaze of utter lust. He thought she was beautiful watching one of the things she most loved and which she nursed after with her own kind of ability.

Jack returned his focus back to the floating cloud and slowly he brought his hands together before separating them quickly and making the cloud disappear in an instant. He heard a small gasp escape from the queen's lips and felt a giddy sensation in the pit of his stomach as he resumed his gaze back on her who was still staring with amazement where the cloud once was. Distracted by the former presentation, she didn't notice Jack slipping behind her to tickle her sides. She shrieked and jerked forwards trying to get out of the reach of the impulsive boy.

"You're too distracted," Jack teased and suddenly leapt in front of the girl so he could see the reaction he was aiming for.

The girl's face was covered by a glaze of pink as she held her sides as if trying to protect her dear sanity that she was going to lose if he touched her one more time.

 _There it is_ , he thought, and admired the girl's timid state for a moment while she tried to regain her composure.

Once she did, she coughed with an 'ehem' and closed the distance between the two of them. Her hands slid unconsciously to his mid-arm as she pressed lightly against his body. She stood on her tiptoes in order to reach his height, and softly, but surprisingly  _warmly,_  her lips pressed against his cold cheek and from there, he felt his whole body engulf in the warmth that she inflicted with the insignificant touch. But to  _him_  the touch was all he ever asked for the moment he laid eyes on her. His mind was in a daze and never noticed Elsa, who, as daring as she just was, left the area without a word.

She couldn't stand it. She couldn't stand the way he made her feel inside because she knew she couldn't have these feelings for him. Why did it have to be him?

 _No_ , she thought,  _it didn't have to him. It was only impulsively and I owed him for bringing Arendelle to peace once more._  It was nothing else. At least, that's what she had concluded for herself.

* * *

A few hours later, it was supposedly time for the Queen and Princess to lay their heads on their pillows;

Supposedly.

Elsa and Anna sat on the older girl's bed talking about various things. Somehow they seemed to avoid the topic of Jack Frost for a rather long time before Anna brought him up. Of course it was inevitable, but Elsa just hoped desperately that she wouldn't have to deal with what happened that evening.

"So…" Anna started, and Elsa knew what was coming next, but she let her continue anyways, "How did you get Jack Frost to thaw the kingdom?"

Elsa sighed, "I just asked him to," she lied, and Anna could tell her sister was hiding something juicy from her.

"That wasn't all that happened, right? What really happened between you two –hm?" She pressed on, leaning into Elsa so she had to lean back a bit.

Elsa remembered her daring action yesterday and the sensation of her lips meeting Jack's cold skin and felt her face go red in a matter of seconds.  _Why did I do that so thoughtlessly?_ She pondered, a little mad at herself and was suddenly brought out of her thoughts when Anna squealed.

"Elsa, your face is completely red! Did you do something I should know about?" She asked leaning even more into her sister.

Elsa laughed and gently pushed her sister away, "Anna, really, do you think something happened that I wouldn't tell you about?" She said, quickly thinking of something believable. She couldn't tell Anna about what she did; she couldn't. Anna would never let her see a day where she didn't tease her about it.

However, Anna knew something was up even with Elsa trying to play it cool and looked at her sister suspiciously in the eye, "Are you suure," she asked, and Elsa  _finally_  caved in, not being able to resist her younger sister.

"Alright, I kissed him, okay?!" She exclaimed, "Happy now?" She heard Anna gasp and quickly added, "but it was only on the cheek. It was… because I owed for thawing the kingdom; there's no special meaning behind it."

Anna immediately grabbed her sister's hands. "But you kissed him! You wouldn't do that for just anyone, would you?" Anna said, and she had to take a second to run that over in her head.

"Maybe you're right, but… I don't know. I don't like him. I  _can't_  like him."

"Well, why not?" Anna said, her grip on her sister's hands growing limp as she realized how much Elsa had actually thought about this and hearing the sorrow in her voice. She knew that if Elsa  _didn't_  think about that she wouldn't have said that she didn't like him. Anna was sure that her sister was just being difficult. After all, she might not know how romantic love could be.

"Because no one else can see him," Elsa said quietly, and Anna finally understood. Or at least  _she_  thought she understood.

Even Elsa herself didn't know everything that could happen. Maybe she  _could_  fall in love and they'd live a happy life together. 'The Ice Duo' or something of that sort people would come with; some crazy thing people would gossip about, and people would approach Elsa with wonder as to how she caught someone like  _Jack Frost_. But then there was the other side to it. The one where Elsa might fall in love and it wouldn't even begin.

"Why don't you just see how it goes? It wouldn't hurt to fall in love and tr-" Anna tried to explain to her sister that she could always meet someone new and fall in love again, but the queen cut her off.

"I'm twenty-one, Anna, and I don't have anyone courting me. How do you think that looks to the kingdom?"

"You were locked up in your room for thirteen years! No one can blame you for that," Anna reminded her in which she would rather not have been.

"Anna…" Elsa gave her a look and the younger girl replied with a small, awkward smile.

She knew Anna was just trying to support her, but she didn't know if she really wanted to be supported this way. Yes, Jack was easy to get along with and she wouldn't mind continuing that, but they already knew that there was some reason that they both couldn't see him. Elsa had a feeling that she knew the reason, but she had forgotten a long time ago when her parents passed away. She pretty much forgot everything after her parents died. She only remembered what she did to her sister and how much she missed her parents who were there when no one else was.

There was also the fact that Jack was never a suitable person to fall in love with in the first place. He was a guardian -which meant that he had to take care of the world. How would he find the time to date the queen of the tiny kingdom of Arendelle?

Elsa sighed, "It's getting late. We should be going to bed soon."

Anna groaned which made Elsa laugh and they both shared a long hug before Elsa shooed Anna to her own bed and they both lay down, snuggling into their mattress until they were comfortable.

"Goodnight, Elsa," Anna said softly.

"Goodnight, Anna," she replied, and paused for a moment, thinking of something else to say.

Anna filled the silence, "You should try falling in love with him, Elsa. I think he would take care of you."

That thought soothed Elsa's mind, but she couldn't let that mask the fact that he still was a human from a mythical tale. She couldn't let it faze her…

"I'll try." The words slipped out of her mouth before she could catch them, and she heard Anna trying hard not squeal like a little child out of excitement by muffling her cries with her blankets. Elsa let that one slide and as she closed her eyes she heard something else from her younger sister.

"I think you'll be happy with him."

Elsa hoped she was right.


	6. It Was Me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Jack acts like a cute dork and spills the beans. And Elsa is unsure.

Two days passed since Elsa had seen Jack Frost, and she had to admit she was worried. She wondered what he was doing, and how he was.  _Was he okay? Was he well?_  The thoughts were endless, and she couldn't get them straight enough to get a simple document done properly. Multiple times already today she had to take a few breaks to set her mind right. After she kissed Jack she hasn't been the same, and her sister noticed this too.

Anna thought her Elsa was too distracted, and was bothered that it may be her fault.  _I told her to try falling in love with Jack so she could at least have that kind of experience, but was I too rash?_

Still, as much as Anna wanted to help her sister, she knew it wasn't exactly her business to get involved in now, and she was too busy with Kristoff to be there for her. So there were the two girls, one out with the love of her life, and one in her study, alone, and dreading the thought of the love of her life.

* * *

Elsa sat at her desk playing with her hair which was twisted into a wild, French side-braid. One of the things she made up to get her mind off work was these things she called 'ice-extensions'. She would play with locks of her hair and create the tiniest slivers of ice to grasp onto the ends to make them longer. It was more a habit than anything else, truth be told. She did this a few times before letting the ice melt off her hair completely and turned her focus back to the documents in front of her.

She sighed.  _Just how much of this do I have to do?_ She wondered, and stared at the papers with a heavy feeling in her chest.

She continued to stare for a length of time, hoping, praying that somehow they would be done, but of course, that was just her wishful thinking. She fondled one of the papers between her fingers looking over it absentmindedly and she remembered the way Jack's hoodie felt beneath her fingertips. It was clear that it was worn down, and she knew the colour had faded from time, but still, it gave off a comfortable feeling and she liked that. By now, her thoughts went to the feeling of her lips against Jack's cold cheek again and her face flushed.

She touched her cheeks and coated a film of ice on them to cool down.  _Calm down! I need to get these papers done._  She thought sternly to herself, and at last the feeling of responsibility settled in and she got into 'Queen Mode'. She dismissed the ice off her cheeks and started once again on the papers in front of her.

Elsa was on her second to last paper when she detected a familiar change in the air.

 _It feels… cold?_ Elsa looked at her hands in reflex, but she knew better by now. If she distinguished a thing or two about powers -one was that  _hers_  do  _not_  make her feel cold, and the only ability to do that was…

"Jack Frost," Elsa said, and glanced around the room hopefully.

She searched for the boy, but could not see him, yet, she could  _feel_  his presence. She got up from her chair and walked around the room a bit, reaching her hands out to see if maybe he was playing the invisible joke or something like that. She suddenly found herself realizing how stupid she must look and dropped her hands quickly bringing them in and fiddling with her fingers.

"J… Jack?" She called out, but there was still no answer.

Her heart fell a little and she walked back over to her desk slowly. She wondered if she imagined the whole thing as she stopped just in front of her desk, looking down at the papers that were strewn across the wooden surface. She couldn't shake off the feeling that he was there still.

_I really thought he wa-_

Then she heard the creaking of floorboards outside of her door and smiled when she remembered telling the staff to never step on the floorboards that squeaked because the sound irked her. She also remembered feeling ashamed when she by mistake snapped at one of them because of it. She didn't mean to –it was by accident. Nonetheless, they swore to abide her rule.

There were three distinct places to know which side someone was coming from and where they were, and as another creak sounded out, she thought,  _There's one three feet away._ She waited until she heard the creak and continued. _There's a smaller one when you put weight on your left side._ Creak. Elsa began walking to the door as another thought entered her mind.  _There's a longer one foot from the door._ The sound of the long creak reached her ears and her heart almost came to a halt.

_He's here._

Elsa reached the door, her hand hovering above the doorknob while she hesitated because a haunting thought struck her: she didn't even know what to say. Yes, she had many things to ask him and tell him, but now that she thought that he was actually here she realized she didn't know how to start. But then, something inside her took over and she found herself opening the door.

There he stood, a little shocked from the sudden opening of the door, but soon his expression turned warm and a smile was on his face as he laughed.

"You caught me!" His lips curved into a dorky grin and he scratched his head just behind his ear.

Elsa felt her stomach do a little flip-flop. His smile had this effect on Elsa that she only felt when Anna was around her and she knew what it meant already.

Luckily, Jack was the person on the other end of the conversation and speaking was as easy as breathing for him who had been around children all his three-hundred years of life. He knew a few things about people, and a lot of things about Elsa and knew that she was having a hard time running thoughts in her head and trying to make sense of them, so he knew what to do right away. Nonetheless he had to laugh a little at the timid girl who had seemed so brave when he last saw her.

"Why are you la-"

"Hey," he said, making Elsa stop talking and she stood there a little surprised.

One word left her mouth: "Hey?"

She didn't mean for it to come out as a question, but she felt embarrassed that it did and had to look down for a second. Jack noticed the shy side of the Queen coming back and couldn't help but laugh again.

 _There he goes again with that stupid laugh of his; what's so funny?_ Elsa's eyes snapped back onto Jack's and his laughter faded away as the girl gave him a look of annoyance.

"What are you laughing at?" She mumbled and crossed her arms over her chest like a small child.

"I think you're cute."

Hey eyes widened in a dumbstruck sort of way while her mouth dropped into a small 'o', and her arms which were supposed to be angrily tensed against her body now hung like a loose cradle. And her heart definitely was doing something abnormal as she felt it clench and tighten painfully. It was a good painful.

"Wha-"

"Hey, let's grab a seat. I don't want anyone coming in and seeing you staring at nothing in the doorway talking to yourself…" Jack paused as he looked at one of her hands before giving her a small smile and grabbing it, "Come on."

She didn't mind the slight interruption of her personal space in fact, the trivial thing sent butterflies to her stomach, and she loved it. She loved the way he was not afraid of her unlike so many other people she knew.

He closed the door behind him and led her to her desk where she sat down obediently, waiting for him to bring up a chair.

Once he settled down, Elsa had to ask the question that's been burning in the back of her throat. "Why can't others see you?"

He didn't hesitate for even a second and the words seemed to just flow right out of his mouth, "Because they don't believe in me," was what he said, but he didn't expect his voice to drop down to the lonesome whisper that managed to slip through his lips.

Elsa noticed that his voice sounded sad and somewhat distant from his usual self and suddenly she couldn't help but feel like she saw herself in Jack. She knew the feeling of no one believing in you too. Her parents didn't believe that she could control her powers; her sister didn't believe her when she said that she was just trying to protect her until she ended up hurting her, and the townspeople also didn't believe that she was completely 'controlled'. She knew it all too well.

Jack brought his eyes to meet the girl's piercingly bright blue ones and gave her a small smile. "I'm used to it."

She realized that this was a total mood-killer and tried to change the subject, "Let's move on," she said slowly, and realized she wasn't actually sure of what she was going to say next after that. Jack could see her struggling again to come up with something to say and decided for once to enjoy pulling rather than pushing their conversation.

They sat in complete silence while she continued to rack her brain for the questions she had before he appeared before her, but couldn't seem to grasp any of them. She was able to pick out some words however, she wasn't able to piece them together.

Finally, a realization crept into her mind: she didn't even know why he was there in the first place. "Did… you have something to ask me?" Jack appeared a little confused, so she elaborated, "You came here; was there something you wanted to ask me?"

She could see the question finally made sense to him and saw him scratch the back of his head while his lips took form of an awkward smile, which made her wonder…  _Does he scratch his head when he's nervous?_   _Is he nervous right now… talking to me?_ Elsa was almost too immersed in her thoughts to hear what Jack was going to say next, and caught herself just in time to hear him say:

"I just needed to see you."

 _Needed,_  she thought and analyzed his voice; she caught his sincerity and the way he sounded almost anxious, like he thought she wouldn't understand just how much he meant that. Her heart felt like it was pounding in her throat as she managed to utter out a breathless, "Me?"

He nodded, now a little embarrassed realizing how desperate he must've sounded to the girl who looked like she could faint right there. Elsa didn't give a damn about how he sounded, only the words that were left for her to churn in her mind.

 _He said he needed to see me. Does that have some kind of other meaning to it, or am I just thinking too much? No –there must be something to it… I really am thinking too much._ She contradicted herself in the most peculiar way. Nonetheless, she knew that her fear was confirmed.

She loved Jack.

When Anna fell in love with Hans, she couldn't believe someone could fall in love in one day, but now she understood completely. Even though Anna and Hans were never fated to be with each other, (Hans turning out to be an extremely twisted human being) Elsa could tell that there was a part of Anna who honestly liked the Prince back then.

 _Well you got your wish Anna, but what am I supposed to do now,_ Elsa thought bitterly.  _Now I'm becoming self-conscious about it._

Jack gave her a warm smile and extended his right hand. Elsa looked at him at little confused, but then saw him beckoning his fingers for her to place her hand in his palm and caught on rather quickly. Normally, men just grabbed her hands without consent and kissed them to show their chivalry, but she just found it alarming, scared that they might find out about her powers. Of course, that was just her being paranoid because there was no way they would think that since she'd been wearing gloves all her life up until now. It was new to her that she actually had the choice whether or not to go with it or not. Even so, she didn't hesitate to place her left hand in his and anticipate his lips against her skin. Only, that didn't happen.

Her hand was lifted to his face, but it stopped there in front of his eyes while he stared at it with an ardent focus. With both hands he turned it over and searched for something. She was bewildered by the strange action and almost pulled her hand away when the boy stopped and locked his eyes onto hers causing her to freeze. His next words sent familiar chills down her spine and her eyes widened.

"Where did the cut go?"

She knew immediately what he was talking about and a stuttered answer quivered from her lips, "H-How do you know about that?"

"Because it was me… I was the one that hurt you when you were younger," his voice became softer and Elsa felt her hand slowly being lowered into his lap. Jack's gaze fell to her hand while the guilt he had built up for the past thirteen years bubbled and crawled up his throat, squirmed under his skin and itched his back, making him nauseated to the core. He thought of the horrible things her parents had done to her because of him. "I was the one that made your parents so obsessed with idea of locking you up in your room. If I didn't scrawl that stupid staff on your window then maybe things would've been different."

Elsa  _knew_ there was something she was forgetting earlier and as soon as Jack said it all the pieces clicked together. It was the staff that had been drawn on her window years ago before the accident. All those other staffs that he drew were to get her to remember, to notice that he was there.

_But why now after all these years –why_ _**now** _ _?_

Even though he thought it was his fault she knew it wasn't. She couldn't even start to imagine the type of feelings he'd been enduring up until now, so she had to convince him that it wasn't his fault.

"It wasn't your fault, Jack."

The guardian's heart fluttered a bit in his chest hearing his name, but then quickly returned his focus to the discussion.

He sighed, "But it  _was_. After the accident, I heard your parents fighting in their room arguing about how they could keep you safe from your powers and everyone else… from you. It was all because of me."

She looked at her hand that was still in the grasp of the boy before returning her gaze to him and then quickly pulled her hand away.

"It-It's cold…" He heard Elsa mumble something like that and just stared at her for a moment.

She wasn't sure why she pulled her hand away –maybe she just wanted to stop talking about this and change the subject. Or perhaps it was because she believed what she just heard and thought she might hurt him after hearing it. Or possibly because she was embarrassed that a guy she had only met was holding her hand and she did as much as think that it felt so awfully right to be in his. Or maybe it was her mind telling her from all those past years that her touch really was freezing and he could feel her powers seeping into his skin, and that caused him to spill the secrets he'd been holding in.

Jack kept his gaze on the Queen who was wringing her hands in her lap unconsciously. He couldn't help but notice the slight blush that covered her cheeks and the tinge of red that bit her ears. He was glad she was averting her gaze because he couldn't stop staring. She was so beautiful in his eyes and to be here, sitting in front of her was a 'dream come true'. Still, the guilt hung in his chest of being the reason she was isolated, and he had to make one last thing known. That he was sorry.

"Elsa, look,"

His voice was filled with so much intensity that Elsa really did look at him. She couldn't imagine what he had to say.  _Is it going to be something about my hands, or something else about my parents?..._  Elsa couldn't help but dread over what he was going to say next, but what she didn't know was that his intentions and true feelings were beginning to fail to differentiate.

At the same time, Jack made sure to make eye contact before he said what he'd been meaning to say all these years. He was ready to apologize his heart out; ready to accept if she didn't want to see him ever again. His heart thumped hard against his chest, and before he knew what was happening, something completely different from what he planned to say managed to escape from his thoughts and echo out into the room.

"I love you."


	7. Get Away From Me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Jack does something he regrets. And Elsa pushes him away.

The air left its jailers in Elsa's body and her whole body stiffened.  _He what?_

Jack stared dumbly at the woman he just confessed to suddenly while his mind reeled with one penitent thought.  _I… what… did I just tell her I love her?_  He had to fight the wanting of disappearing from sight until he saw her mouth move.  _Did she just mouth the words 'I do too'?_ His heart started to pulse up into his head. He kept his eyes locked onto her lips that moved with no sound.

Elsa didn't know what she was doing; she didn't even know when her body started to function again. All she caught of her movements were her lips that shaped the words 'I do too' and the irritating heartbeat in her chest that refused to let her think. Maybe that was why she had no idea what was going on.

The winter spirit opened his mouth to open something – _anything_ , but regrettably, nothing claimed his speech. Then, he saw the Queen covering her mouth in response to her mute exclamation and suddenly felt a cold chill kiss the air. He felt it around her first, but soon it spread to him and around the room, and soon there were sheets of ice covering her armchair. Her eyes were wide as she stayed silent and inside those widened eyes he could see her breaking. It was that moment he finally found words and got up from his chair to kneel in front of her still holding her hand, though now a little more tightly.

"Hey, now… Elsa... Elsa, it's okay." He soothed her with a quiet whisper until slowly, he felt her relax in his palm and the ice gradually melted away.

Her hand lowered with her focus and she looked at Jack who knelt patiently in front of her. She surveyed his familiar face like she did when she first saw him and frowned a little but not enough that he really noticed.

The reason for her sudden melancholy was because she remembered just who he was. He was the winter spirit only known in fairy-tales: Jack Frost. Guardian: Jack Frost. Bringer of joy:  _Jack Frost_. Conjurer of snow, ice, and frost _:_ _ **Jack Frost**_ ; not a love interest. Her mind told her  _no_ but her heart told her  _yes_ and she didn't know which one to listen to. She wanted to love him yet she knew she couldn't and it hurt her –it broke her more than she even realized.

Not even a minute passed and in some way she was able to shut her heart out and listen to her thoughts finally. She decided that she didn't want to make Jack worry and fall any deeper in love with her even though her heart screamed to stop. And she knew how to do precisely that from years of practice –how to distance her from others by weaving emotions together like a cedar basket until she concealed it, and couldn't feel it.

What she didn't know though was that Jack had fallen so deeply in love with her that now it was an impossible climb to even attempt. Even more, she didn't realize that he had fallen in love with her years ago and has always watched her. She'd always been someone special to him the moment he realized she had magical powers, and at first it was just a small love for 'the child with powers who lived in that one kingdom' who he visited every now and then, but when she struck her sister with her powers his interest grew and he felt feelings of knowing. He knew how it felt to let fun get the better of you, and especially when it had to deal with ice (because he died from falling into a frozen river himself playing with his little sister before he was a guardian, and he regretted that too). So as the years went by and she stayed locked in her room, he kept his eye on her frequently, and one day, he heard the parents talking about her.

They were finally going to let her out of her room.

He was excited for her and before he knew it, he was drawing staffs all over people's windows as if saying, 'She's coming! Your little Ice Princess is coming!' but it seemed he was a little too excited, and when he drew the last staff he was ever going to draw in that kingdom, his feelings turned out to be stronger than he thought and slightest touch of his powers connecting with hers turned her fate around entirely.

After the accident, he continued to watch painfully as she grew up isolated from everyone even up until her parents died, and that period seemed to last forever. Then, it was coronation day, and everyone was as excited as he was years ago… before the two sisters got into their fight. He knew something was wrong and wanted to tell Anna exactly her sister went through and continued to go through, but it was no use because no one could see him. Elsa ended up running away thinking it was the best for everyone and that's when she finally let herself go and Jack knew he was in love. Up until this very day, Elsa was and is the only person he would be interested in. He knew that for a fact and that's why he wanted to get her attention once everything was settled with her sister. His dream finally came true, but then it was shattered in an instant.

"You need to leave, now," she deadpanned.

His heart seemed to crush under those five words and his world felt like it was toppling off its center.

"Wait. Elsa, why? You just said you lo-"

"I didn't say anything."

That was true, but it didn't mask the fact that she mouthed the words.

"Elsa!" He pleaded.

"Leave. Now," the words were seethed through gritted teeth, but the words came out more like whimpers and it was impossible for Jack to not notice that she sounded so  _afraid_. And he knew it was his fault.

She attempted to stand up from her chair, but Jack had a firm grasp on her wrist now and sat her back down. He couldn't just let her leave like that after they'd come so far. He stood up and released her hand from his grip before landing his right hand down next to her thigh and his other diagonally on the chair's cresting rail, caging her within his arms. Jack didn't know what he was doing. In fact, he knew he was still scaring her, but his body wouldn't stop. He was so frustrated with everything.

Why didn't she love him? Why did she run away when their feelings were finally reaching other? Why? Why, why, why, why,  _why_?

His only processed thoughts were the questions that enraged him and he ignored all the others nonsensically thinking that if he did, he would get a rational answer. His mind only screamed:  _I love her,_  and there was no way he could think that one out. His body reacted impulsively to his one thought, and before he knew it, his lips were pushed against hers.

Of course, Jack didn't even know how to kiss anyone, so this was more than a little awkward saying how he didn't even plan on doing this when he showed up that evening. He didn't even know if he was doing it right.

His eyes were squeezed shut as his mouth moved on its own record, sucking on her top lip before moving down to get a more full-on experience. He was having a mental battle with himself as he tried his best with this stupid, sloppy kiss that was happening. Meanwhile, Elsa was on the very brink of her sanity and eyeing the cliff of a breakdown when she felt something slimy pass by her lips. It was his tongue.

 _It's his tongue,_  she established and snapped.

"Gepf away fwom me!" She spluttered and pushed against the boy's chest enough to shove him back a foot and icicles shot from her fingertips which rushed through his body, out his back, and hit a painting on the wall behind him.

Even though the shot had no effect on him, it was enough to snap him back to reality and he stepped back as the crashing sound of the painting emanated from the floor. Then, there was a heated silence while the two of them heaved a few breaths, staring at each other with intensity.

First of all, Jack couldn't believe what he had just done. He didn't want to believe it. He ruined what he imagined as their first kiss in four seconds flat, and he couldn't even stand to think about it. Second of all, he was sure Elsa hated him now. His locked eyes with her as she wiped her mouth with her hand and continued to stare him down.  _Yup, she hated me._ But thirdly, he was sure that she had been scared a moment ago and he didn't know  _why_. He needed to know why.

Elsa was stunned. Not only was she sexually assaulted, but she was sexually assaulted by a  _fable character._  This turned out to be the person she loved, but nonetheless a fairy-tale idea. How was she supposed to explain this to Anna? She'd been completely wiped clean of her first kiss as an innocent and pure one with this mess within mere seconds. What was she supposed to do now?

Her queen instincts told her somebody would be in soon for the painting and she quickly stood up realizing she wasn't caged by the boy anymore. She creased down the skirt of her dress and then turned her attention to Jack who was still standing there, ogling her like a child who'd just been caught in the act.

For now, she would let the kiss slide, and just needed him out of here –away from her. "You should leave," she said.

"It's not like anyone can see me anyway," He countered.

She really didn't want him there, but it looked like she had no choice. Rolling her eyes, she said, "Fine, but don't do anything…  _weird_ ," she gave him a small glare while Jack lifted his hands in defense as if implying that he wasn't going to touch anything –more like suggesting he wasn't going to touch  _her_. Elsa decided to ignore him and headed for the door.

Her hand hovered over the doorknob when she suddenly got the plummeting feeling of a recognized presence on the other side of the wooden slab. She opened the door with a rushed yank and there, sitting on the ground was the answer to her suspicion. A red-headed girl with freckles like the night sky sat beside the door with a small, awkward smile playing her lips and she waved a sheepish hand at her sister.

"Hey," she said, and Elsa sighed. It didn't even surprise her.

For the past thirteen years she'd been locked up in her room. Of course, she knew it was her sister on the other side of the door. Almost every day before the coronation her sister would wait outside her door for a response; anything that would tell her that she was alive, and sometimes she would oblige. Others (like the day of the accident) she couldn't bring herself to do it. A month before their parents died though, the knocks stopped and Elsa was always worried about her.  _Why isn't she knocking?_  She would ask herself and of course, there was never an answer; all but the silence that seemed to burst from the door to consume and frighten her. It felt as if Anna finally gave up. Elsa knew that her sister would never abandon her though, the years of persistence proved so. Nonetheless, she couldn't help having the uneasiness that Anna gave up. She had ignored her for so long and couldn't even imagine what she was going through. She wouldn't have been surprised if she did, but she didn't, and Elsa was so grateful for that. But the whole point was: she always knew when she was there –always.

"Hey… so you heard everything?" Elsa asked awkwardly not sure how her sister would respond to the whole thing, and sighed in relief when Anna only gave her a small nod.

Elsa offered a hand to her sister who gladly accepted it. There wasn't a moment to ask another question as Anna quickly slipped past her sister into the room where she saw the two chairs placed facing each other behind her sister's desk as if two imaginary people were sitting there right this instant, having a small conversation. It didn't take her long to spot next the picture on the ground and shattered glass. It was kind of surreal… like something pulled out of a storybook –an invisible man has a conversation with a beautiful woman and causes a ruckus all the while making the beauty fall in love with him. Except, Anna concluded that this was a bit much, but maybe that  _wasn't_  a bit after all since her sister had ice powers and she was  _supposed_  to be used to crazy stuff like this.

"So he's here?" Anna asked while Elsa eventually found a spot beside her.

Elsa took a second to eye Jack back to sitting in his chair. "He's sitting over there," she said, and nodded her head slightly in his direction.

Anna's gaze fell back onto the chairs where she had imagined two invisible sitting and replaced one with a boy with white hair with a staff leaned up against the chair. She squint her eyes trying to see him for real, but unfortunately, she still couldn't see him, though she thought she was able to feel his presence ever-so slightly.

All of a sudden, they heard running footsteps against the stairs and in no time at all, a couple of out-of-breath castle servants were in the doorway.

"We heard a loud crash. Queen Elsa, are you alright?"

So Elsa's assumptions were right when she thought they would be up here soon.

Anna interjected, "Sorry that was me. I got a little too excited and that sort of happened," she pointed to the painting on the floor and shrugged slightly.

The royal staff asked no more questions and as they scrambled to clean up the mess, they didn't notice the melted ice that was sprinkled on the ground and Elsa sighed in relief.

She leaned over towards her sister, "Thanks," she said, and Anna gave her a warm smile.

Anna leaned into her sister as well and replied, "That's what little sisters are for. Taking the blame for things her  _older_  sister does." She giggled, and then there was a small silence which was interrupted slightly by quiet 'thank you's' from the two sisters when the staff finished their work and were heading out the door as quickly as they came.

The room was left in that silence that made the hair on Elsa's neck stand on end and thankfully it was broken by her sister: "Hey, do you wanna grab something to eat?"

It was true Elsa didn't have a chance to eat lunch, but after all that happened she just wanted some time alone in their room, or just  _somewhere_  without Jack to think over what just happened.

"Anna, I'm not really in the mood-"

"We can get some chocolate," she giggled and grabbed her sister's hands. "C'mooon," she groaned and blinked her big, blue eyes compellingly, knowing that Elsa would cave when she was in her hands (literally).

Elsa gave in to the redhead with a small, 'Fine.' which was eliminated by a loud cheer afterwards from the younger girl and she was yanked out of the room quickly by the enthusiastic princess.

Jack Frost was left speechless, and rather, alone in the big study after the two girls left in a hurried blur and his head immediately fell into his hands with a loud moan of self-loathing. "That's it," he said, "I ruined my chance,  _and_ she hates me. Great."


	8. I'm Sorry

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Elsa cries. And Jack Frost returns.

It's not like she hated the fact that Jack kissed her; she just couldn't believe she fell in love with him. She wasn't  _supposed_  to fall in love with someone like him: someone fictional. She wasn't supposed to.

* * *

Elsa and Anna were arranged on the younger sibling's bed like this: Anna lay horizontally with her legs dangling off the side while Elsa lay with the pads of her feet on the quilts parallel to the bed, resting her head on her sister's stomach. Anna weaved her fingers through Elsa's flaxen hair while humming the song "Do You Wanna Build a Snowman" softly. They've been in this position for minutes; neither one of them moving, but the gentle movement of Anna's fingers twisting and unraveling in Elsa's hair. A slight graze of Anna's thumb on Elsa's forehead caused Elsa to open her eyes. Anna tapped her finger on her sister's forehead to which the older girl furrowed her brows, contemplating whether Anna was teasing her or just thinking for a moment.

She went with the latter, and asked, "What is it?"

After a moment, Anna seemed to have come out of her faze and asked, "How are you feeling?"

She noted the caution in her voice. She knew Anna was trying to be careful as to not make her upset. She loved how caring she was, but she didn't have to treat her like porcelain. She could handle being a rag-doll.

Elsa made sure to try and reply with the most believable excuse. "I'm fine.  _Really_ ," and added the last word for emphasis.

She should have known that wasn't going to cut it.

"I don't think you are, Elsa."

"I am."

"No you're not."

Elsa shot up and turned sharply to her sister. "I am," she seethed.

Their eyes locked onto each other's for a moment before Anna sat up as well. Her eyes were still locked onto Elsa's. Her expression softened and she said gently, "It's okay to say you're not. I know that Jack meant a lot to y-"

"How many times do I have to say that I'm okay!"

Anna clamped her mouth shut. Instantly, the air around her grew danker and that's when she knew something was not right. She could see a pool of tears forming in her sister's lower eyelids. Before too long, Elsa had started crying. Her tears spilled over and down her cheeks, and she quickly turned her head so Anna could not see. However, she had already seen, and as soon as she knew Elsa was crying she wound her arms around her as fast as humanly possible in a tight, comforting hug. She felt the older girl shift in her arms so her knees caved in towards each other and she began wiping at her tears.

The tears froze on Elsa's cheeks while she grew colder and colder, though the cold didn't bother Anna and she continued to hold her sister still. Elsa was slightly embarrassed letting her sister see her helpless in her arms, but it was no use being self-conscious after it had already been done.

Elsa missed Jack. She missed him almost as much as her parents and it sent shivers down her soul to think if anything ever happened to him. She didn't want to lose him; not after letting him see her wavering heart, and stealing her first kiss, and certainly not after she had fallen in love with him. Why did it that when something good happened in her life, someone just had to run away?

Elsa wiped at her final tears and said faintly, "Why hasn't he come back?"

* * *

Jack knew he should have gone back earlier, but North found out Jack had been skipping his duties and was furious with him. He thought it was going to be impossible to get any free time after this. He thought.

"You rhink vhe kids are happy vith this?"

"Oh, come on, you big grump. They can wait a day or two!"

"I don't vhink so!"

The two guardians stood in the old North's workshop which Jack remembered being specifically where North told him about his center. North, being the type to get close and personal was now standing literally half a foot from him with his gigantic, round body, their faces centimetres from each other. North had a scowl on his face that seemed to imply he was going to hit Jack on the head or something just as painful, but Jack knew North wasn't the type to get physical, he just _liked_  acting tough. Jack knew that he was just a little kid in a big red jumper.

"Vhat I say, goes." The large man rumbled.

Jack took a steady step backwards and put his hands up, "Yeah, yea, okay. Can I just get on with it then?"

North nodded his head and that was the end of that which Jack thought was strange, but didn't think about it anymore. Jack zipped out of the workshop, and arrived at his appointed location a few hours later. As he executed his job, all he could think of was the time he was missing to check up on the girl his heart beat for. There was never a day he missed the chance to see her until all this business with North went down. He soon realized that if the kids missed one more day of snow, North could quite possibly punish him. He didn't know for sure, but he didn't want to wait and see what would happen.

He couldn't help his negative thoughts as they crowded his mind and took over his mind. Once again, he felt guilty for pushing himself on her. He knew he shouldn't have done that. What gave him the right? Because he loved her and she might even love him too? Where was the consent –where was the solid, blissful fact that they were mutually in love with each other. She definitely didn't want to see him as much as he wanted to see her. Definitely.

* * *

"Elsa… are you okay in there?"

Anna sat outside Elsa's locked study with her knees drawn up to her chest. She had started picking at her toes with her fingernails when the door opened.

"Yeah… I-I'm okay," she said.

Anna believed Elsa had gotten better; she wanted to believe it. However, she could see it on her sister's face that right now that wasn't the case and Elsa was just as hung up on Jack as she had been the day she cried in her arms. After that episode, Elsa never let Anna see her cry about Jack again and it was just as well. What could Anna possibly provide for Elsa in her time of disparity? Hope? She had already fooled herself in thinking that was the best decision ( _ever_ ) when Elsa first met Jack. Now the best thing she thought she could possibly do was simply get her sister's thoughts off the silly boy.

Also, it had been a week after Elsa had seen any sign of Jack. No staffs on windows or doors, not his charming smile, or whimsical figure in the distance –nothing. Then she started convincing herself that he was never to show up at her side ever again. After all, she had been right. Who could love a monster like her? After finally admitting that she loved him to his face, she pushed him away again. Who in their right mind would have optimism in her?

"Elsa, you're making that face again," Anna said sadly.

"I am?" And she couldn't help it. It was the face she made when she thought of Jack. Without even meaning to, her mind swarmed with thoughts of him. _"When is he coming back? "How much longer is he going to take?" " Does he even still love me?"_

These questions became her breath. A repetition needed like the air in her helium filled lungs. It was painful, and the longer they were separated, the times she replaced "Does he even still love me?" with: "Why would he even love me?" steadily grew. She was losing faith, and once it was gone, she knew her heart would never go back to him, or maybe anyone else for that matter. If this was what love was going to be like for her, maybe she didn't want to be courted ever. Maybe she should die alone like the Snow Queen she was supposed to be.

Anna knew when Elsa was thinking of Jack, and regretted every time she asked if she was okay, knowing it would only remind her of him _. Every_.  _Single_.  _Time_. She didn't want Elsa to feel sad anymore. Not after all that time they were separated from each other. They were finally starting to get along after everything until this Jack business popped up. Really, this happened only weeks after the Great Thaw.

 _How predictable._  Anna rolled her eyes. "Guys have the best timing, don't they?" she said with a small laugh, intending the remark to cheer her sister up, however, she still didn't quite know how to deal with her sister's feelings and feared that maybe she just made things worse for her. Her fears were answered when there was no reply and only silence erupted between the two sisters. She sighed, a little mad with herself.

They walked down the large hall in silence while Anna tried to come up with something else.

_There must be something I could do… Aha!_

"Hey, Elsa…"

Anna took a step into her path and turned around so she was facing the older girl.

"What is it?" Elsa asked

Anna moved closer to her big sister and quickly wrapped her arms all the way around her and squeezed as though her life depended on it. Elsa had difficulty time breathing, like that feeling when someone sits on you. Elsa felt as if Anna was going to break her ribs and felt her face grow red. "Ergh, Anna! What are you-"

"You know I really love you, right?"

Elsa stood uncomfortably in Anna's arms for a second processing what she said and then laughed, "You're such a stinker. Of course I do! I love you too." She said this as she wrapped her arms around her sister and gave her a squeeze.

The two girls stayed like that for a while until one of the staff members asked whether they were going to dinner or not, and after the both of them giggling a bit they nodded their heads and headed to the dining room to feast.

* * *

Night fell on the kingdom and the two girls lay peacefully in their beds after a long day of playing and talking. Elsa was dreaming about Jack. It seemed her consciousness just didn't want to give up.

She was walking, but not alone –with Jack. It seemed wherever she went in her dream, he was with her, and she had a strange feeling that this was actually like the times she'd been walking alone before she'd even met him. Before she met Jack, she'd always been alone, but now, he was everywhere. Her scene in her dream switched to a scene of herself standing before him and she spoke.

"Where have you been?"

"Away, it's been long, right?"

Everything was sped up and before she knew it, she was crying and running into him, while wrapping her arms around his body. "I've missed you so much," she said quietly.

His arms wrapped around her and held her petite body to his. She heard him hum an answer and snuggled deeper into the fabric of his sweater and breathed in his masculine scent. He smelt nice, and reminded her of her dad when he was alive. He smelt like chestnuts. She sighed into his chest and felt him give her a tiny squeeze.

"I love you," she said.

"…"

There was no response.

She giggled and squeezed him, "You heard me right? I said, I lo-" her gaze flicked upwards to see his face; she felt something grow cold against her back.

_Did the air get colder or –_ _**oh no** _ _._

Soon, what replaced Jack's once warm and loving smile was a frozen, blue face.

"No… no, Jack…" she felt the air around her chill and she shook her head while everything around her became blurred as tears pricked her eyes. "This can't be happening. No, no, no, no, no, no… Jack! Please… please no…" she tried escaping the arms wound around her body, but they had turned to ice. "Jack, don't look at me like that! I didn't mean to do this –oh, please tell me… Say something, Jack!"

The scent of spring whispered in the air, but Elsa couldn't even describe how much it felt like winter.

Her tears burned her skin like bleach, staining her cold, rosy cheeks. She tried reaching up to hold his face, though being caged tight within his arms made it prove to be quite difficult. She tried stepping back slightly to make more room, and was answered by a snapping noise behind her. Pressure was released from her back and somehow, she knew what just happened. She swore to her dead parents, if a pin were to fall, she could hear it a million miles away, because at that time, all her senses seemed to freeze while her ears continued to process the sound she had just heard.

A sickening shiver crawled down her back while something else crept up her throat that made her turned slowly to witness his frozen arm on the ground and seriously needed to throw up. She went and did that before glancing one once more at his arm, and all the feelings in her body went numb. That was the only way she could explain it. She quickly tore her eyes off from the frozen limb and looked back into his face again.

"Jack, I'm so sorry," she said through stifled tears. "I'm sorry…" she moved closer to him and held his face in her hands. She rose up onto her tiptoes and pressed her lips against-

* * *

" **Elsa!"**

An anxious whisper suddenly broke her from her reverie and her eyes snapped open. She was crying and felt tears muddled in her hair against her ears. She was also shaking; her heart fluttered and kicked against her chest. The only steady part of her body was her hand which Jack held firmly. Elsa, terrified of what she just witnessed, looked at him as if he were of some sort she had never seen before. She had to blink a couple times by her own command to make sure that this was real life.

"You were having a nightmare," Jack said gently, and brought his hand up to her face and used his thumb to wipe away some of the tears that she had shed.

"Jack," she said which came out from her throat as more of a high pitched whimper and he could feel his heart being wretched out of his chest by just the sound of his name.

He didn't know what she had just gone through, but if it was enough to make her this upset, he knew he had to assure her that he was with her. There for her, and would never let anything happen to her.

"It's okay, I'm right here." He soothed her, and soon her beating heart began to reside.

She sat up in her bed, still blinking at him. He rubbed his thumbs along her ghostly, white knuckles to calm her. "Do you want to go out and get some fresh air?"

She provided a small nod as her answer and he got up, still holding her hand which helped her to keep her balance as she stood up from her bed. They made sure to creep as quietly as they could as to not wake up the sleeping red-head and soon they were down the hall. They quickly approached the room with the only balcony other than the one connected to Elsa and Anna's room –Elsa's study. Jack opened the door for them and they stepped inside the room, closing the door behind them. He felt a little tinge of nervousness as they reached the outside and stood, exposed and vulnerable to the night.

The night felt as it should be, with the stars like freckles to the sky and the air cool with the hint of summer interlaced. It was beautiful and undoubtedly calming after what Elsa had been through. They stood next to each other, both avoiding eye contact with each other. Elsa with her arms drawn in, wall flowered against the railing, holding her elbows guardedly, as if the wind would knock her down. Jack tensely stood with hands in his hoodie's pockets.

The ice between them lied within Elsa, she knew it. It was her own fault she was so damned reserved! And although there was no eye contact, each could sense glances at each other. There were crickets chirping in the distance, but with only their breaths to accompany them, they felt there was no mistaking it: there was a silence that was rooted stubbornly in their stomachs. An uneasy dread crawled into Elsa's stomach first. It grew there until it blossomed a word.

"Jack."

Milliseconds after Jack's had too, blossomed.

"Elsa," he breathed.

They both jumped at the sound of their names and finally looked at each other. They didn't laugh at the coincidence or continue to say anything after that. Unrelentingly they stared at each other for the same reason: they knew that if one of them looked away a chance might slip. A chance they may never ever be able to redeem. And even if by a tiny ounce, they both knew the ice had started to break down.

Elsa, honestly speaking, had no idea of what she had planned to say; she just needed an excuse to break the terrifying silence. She couldn't believe she would be so speechless after thinking about Jack for weeks. Even after forming what felt like a million scenarios in her head, she never expected to meet him right after waking up from a dream that spoke of the devil.

Jack knew exactly what he had to say. It was kind of funny in the lowest way that every time he encountered the love of his life, he needed to apologize. He'd been practicing for years before he met her face to face and even now, maybe that was the only thing he would be able to do from now on. Did he really believe that he could make her happy with the situation he was in? He always believed he could, but now, when she was standing right in front of him, a relentless pressure pressed into his stomach that ground into him like the guilt that weighed him down on him for years when Elsa was just a girl. He admitted he was scared. She didn't need someone who was scared though. She needed someone who she could put all her worries into and love her unconditionally. He knew that best of all, and thinking that, the words seamlessly ran from his mouth.

"I should go first," he said.

"You should go first."

They both started once again, surprised that they were thinking the same thing, and for once, they let go and laughed a tiny bit.

"Yeah, I think I should." He cleared his throat nervously, and scratched the side of his face, "I-I wanted to apologize for kissing you out of the blue like that, and I'm even  _more_  sorry that it was against your will. I had no right to do that and… you know what? I should just let you punch me right now, so you can get your anger out." He unraveled himself and set his body for impact, eyes closed. His eyes squeezed tighter when he felt a hand on his arm.

" _Angry?_  You think I'm  _angry_ , Jack?"

He opened his eyes and looked down at the face of the girl he was so helplessly in love with that he'd make himself out to be punching bag for. He was confused when tears brimmed her eyes.

"I'm  _not_  angry, Jack. Do you realize how lost I was when I thought I'd never see you again?" Her voice trembled with an undertone of a storm beginning to form.

Jack was seemingly a bit dense. "Lost? I thought for sure you hated me. I was ready to submit myself to North, but couldn't because you-"

"I love you." She whimpered. Her lips were sullied with tears.

Her cheeks were flushed with obvious embarrassment and her eyes… Jack could not stop looking into her eyes. She was crying, and behind her tears he could see it: her Fear. He could see the world within her eyes straining to keep in orbit; the Earth was falling from its angular momentum and he could  _see_  it.

"I'm not supposed to love you." Her fearful eyes dropped down to his chest and flickered anywhere but his face. She used a hand to wipe her tears and Jack took this opportunity and grasped it gently with his.

"Who told you were weren't supposed to?"

"Jack, you don't exist!" Elsa tried pushing him away him her other hand, but Jack stood strong. He wasn't going to act stupid like the last time.

"I  _do_  exist; I'm  _right here_ ," he squeezed her hand.

He smiled and cupped her face with his hand to make her eyes meet his. He leaned in slowly, checking for a sign of resistance within her eyes. The woman he longed for didn't need to say anything; her eyes spoke words. And these words did not reject him. He knew she wanted him to confirm that he was there. That was her fear all along. The fact that he wasn't able to be seen by everyone didn't even come across him as the reason she was so afraid, but it was, and with intention to validate his sincerity he pressed his lips against her cold forehead. In an instant, like a flashy fireworks show, Elsa's snowflake emerged from her skin like a dark birthmark and spun against her brow line.

"I'm sorry I made you worry," he said.

She closed her eyes sensing that he wasn't quite finished. His lips grazed over her cheekbones and to the corner or her eye where he laid another kiss.

"I'm sorry your parents isolated you," he apologized.

A smaller snowflake ran over her eyelid and she blinked her eyes opened for a moment. She watched as he moved to her other eye and let herself press into his lips for the third time.

"I'm sorry I'm invisible," he repented.

His voice was noticeably starting to get shakier and shakier every time he kissed her. A few seconds later, tears were now pooling in his eyes just as she regained a sense of stillness. Again, a snowflake appeared by her eye and ran down her cheek just as her tears did.

"I'm sorry I fell in love with you, but I can't help it. God damn it, Elsa." He sobbed between harsh breaths. "You're the only one like me I've found all this time I've been alive. I couldn't just leave you alone, and I'm sorry. Please tell me you don't regret falling in love with me." He wiped his nose with his sleeve and searched for anything in her eyes that would keep him from feeling like he was base jumping without a parachute.

She shook her head and brought her hand up to clear some of his tears. "No. I don't regret anything." After saying that, she wrapped her arms around her neck and pulled him into an eager kiss that had been long called for. Jack closed his eyes and properly tasted her this time, savoring her lips and running his tongue along hers in dance of memorization. The two of them being new to this field of relationships had an awkward time as they soon realized noses existed. Still, they took their sweet time exploring each other; inelegance and all. Jack found his hands leaving ticklish trails along her hipbones which he mentally noted, and Elsa was unyielding when it came to hair pulling; Jack felt as though his skull would implode in the most pleasurable way. When they found themselves in an uncomfortable position they always found a way to get around it. Giving and taking until they were satisfied with each other. Like savage beasts, they also pushed the other until they whimpered and small gasps would escape their lips.

Panting for air, their eyes burned into each other's soul, and there was nothing –nothing that would stop them from feeling this way anymore. Not the cold that Elsa thought would seep through her hands. Not the fear she had bottled inside her for so long. Not the guilt Jack had built up for years. Not even the people that would start to wonder when the hell she was going to get married.

She would just laugh, and her sister would be among the people changing their views until they saw it:  _Him._  And that Jack Frost, the so-called "fable character" wasn't so invisible anymore.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading and thanks to that one person who gave my story kudos and I realized that I hadn't posted the last chapter!! Happy holidays!  
> //I just wanted to apologize if anyone thinks North is portrayed in a racist way\\\


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